Shivers
by Empy Mai
Summary: Korra's got shivers and it's not from the cold. Her cousins... there's something off about them.


WAH! Haha been a long while since I've posted anything but all the Korra season two news has gotten me so revved up and excited! I'm especially pumped for some Spirit World exploration. I have a lot of head canon going on in my head at the moment and this one involves the twins who we know next to nothing about. I love horror and scary movies so I thought it would be an interesting reason why they seem as sullen as they do. I left the two of them nameless since we have no names for them yet and I know I would not be able to generate any name that really works well. I apologize if that makes the reading difficult, but please bear with me!

Anywho, please feel free to comment! I love feedback and opinions and whatnot. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!

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Her cousins were scheming again, she just knew it. She could hear snatches of whispers coming from the corner of the room where they were huddled. She gazed at the all too familiar image of their backs; having face to face conversations with them was rare. Not that she minded. Talking to her cousins creeped her out. It may have been the fact that they were always together, or the hunch in their shoulders, or the way they looked at her through slightly narrowed eyes. No, the less she talked to her cousins, the better. But they were up to something and Korra doubted it was anything good.

It wasn't even that her cousins were strange, but weird things seemed to happen when they were around. Odd noises and whatnot. Korra was beginning to suspect they were trying to mess with her. They always seemed to watch her out of the corner of their eyes. Had they always been like that? Her memories of them were few and hazy at best. Training had kept her well away from the rest of her family, her extended family especially, for much of her life. She'd met her cousins once or twice but she couldn't recall them ever being so eccentric. They must not have always been this way, she thought to herself, she surely would have remembered. They seemed lost in their own world, detached, and sullen. The only times they livened up was when they were conspiring, their hushed voices a constant soundtrack to their presence. Her uncle's children were so prissy, she could only imagine all the snooty comments they were making.

Well, she had had enough. Whatever they were up to she was going to put an end to it. She was the avatar and they were on her turf. She deserved a little respect. With a huff, she stalked over to the corner of the room. The twins eyes widened at her approach. Their whispers fell silent as Korra began to speak, her voice raising in volume with each successive word. She'd learned a lot and had matured, but she still had trouble at times calming her brash nature.

"Look," she said firmly, "I don't know what you guys are up to but I want you to cut it out. You are living in my home and eating my food. I don't care if it's different from the Northern tribes. Every time I see you two, you seem up to no good. And ever since you've arrived there's been nothing but trouble. I can't put my finger on in, but I think you have something to do with it. So please, just respect my home and my family. I'm... sorry if it's not to your liking but you're going to have to deal with it. Besides, we're family. I don't want my only memories of you to be of the backs of your heads."

Her reprimand had started to run out of steam part of the way through, but the twins remained silent. Their lack of response cast a strained pall over the room. They were looking at her again. Staring, their faces blank. They looked so similar, a matching set. Like mirror images of one another save for the hair. Even the way they stood matched. Korra noticed their fists were clenched, their knuckles pale against deeply tanned skin. It was making her nervous.

The silence was becoming unbearable.

"Well?" She hoped they hadn't noticed the slight tremor in her voice. They were creeping her out but by the spirits she couldn't let them know it. She just couldn't seem to understand the two of them. They were unlike anyone she'd ever met. Amon was sinister in his own way, she shivered as memories of helplessness surfaced. Banishing them swiftly, she still couldn't shake the uneasiness that lingered. Amon was one thing, but these were her cousins. They shared the same blood. And she didn't understand them at all. That's what scared her.

Her cousins' shoulders hunched even further, if that was possible. Their eyes cast downwards simultaneously.

"I... we... see things sometimes." Her cousin said, her raspy voice was monotone and listless.

"Things?" Korra asked, incredulously. Was this supposed to justify their behavior somehow? "What sort of things?"

"We don't know." Her other cousin replied, his voice cool and with a similar lack of energy. "No one else has ever seen them, so we don't really know what they are."

"What do they look like? How long have you been seeing them?"

The twins glanced at each other before the boy replied, "A few years now."

"I saw them first. Or, I saw something. He wouldn't believe me." the girl continued.

"But then, I started seeing them too. But no one would believe us."

"They were like you. They thought we were just trying to make trouble."

"You don't like when we only talk to each other, but who else can you talk to if no one else will listen?"

Korra was a bit dazed. She stared at them, trying to process what they were telling her. "And these... things... what are they like?" She pressed the question again.

The two glanced at each other again, as if deciding who would speak, before the girl spoke. "It's hard to explain, especially if you've never seen them. That's probably why no one believes us. They don't look like they belong on this earth. They're darker than the darkest of night. If you stare at the blackness too long you feel like you're losing a bit of yourself."

She fell silent and her brother began speaking. "And they look almost like they're made of liquid. They seep into the ground their walking and seem to spread around into the air. And they're fast. Very fast."

"One moment they'll be one place, and faster than you can blink, they'll be right next to you." The girl said knowingly. "And they glow. That's the most dangerous part."

"Why?" Korra asked. She could feel a chill descending upon her. Her cousins... these things... they were just like that creature.

"Because the glow invites you closer." Her cousin replied. "But you don't ever want to get too close."

"These things. How many of them are there?" Korra felt weak in the knees. What was this thing? How could her cousins have known about it for so long? Why could no one else see them?

"Oh, there are quite a lot, actually." Her cousin said nonchalantly. Her brother nodded in agreement.

"Thing thing is," he added, "once you start seeing them, you can't stop. And you start seeing them everywhere."

"Yes." His sister was talking again, her voice quiet, "and it's a curious thing, cousin, they seem especially fond of you."

Korra stared at them in shock. A shiver ran up her spine as it dawned on her that their gaze was no longer pointed at her, but behind.


End file.
